In fairness though, I never thought the 11-12 team was going to take it to the next level without some help.

This team has had a hard time scoring for several years now. We've changed coaches, we've added some players, etc. The reality is that those teams were hard-working, low scoring teams.

I've always felt that the problem is that this team tried to rebuild on the fly, as opposed to taking a year or two to use its improved scouting department to get some high draft picks and high impact, young scorers to build around.

When you look at the teams that are more or less challenging for the cup, many of them are built around significant, early first round talent, or the parts they acquired for those significant, early first round talent.

Guys like Stepan, Callahan, Hagelin, etc. are the guys who support the drafting of players like Toews, or Kane, etc. Just imagine if this team had actually drafted a top end talent in 2003, 2005, 2006 or 2007 to go along with the gems they found in later rounds -- they wouldn't need to go out and trade for Nash, or sign Richards.

I firmly believe that a lot of what we're seeing now is the difference between sucking it up for two years, about eight years ago, versus what we did.

At the end of the day, we just don't have the young, top end offensive talent we need. I love hard working guys as much as the next person, but I think some people may be kidding themselves if they think that bigger and better things were right around the corner. It may have been a more enjoyable team to watch, because it worked hard, but the difference in the end result - a legit shot at a championship - is not all that different. It was just an easier medicine to take when we actually liked the taste.